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By Brad Gunn

Our program has been dictated by the necessity of broadening our markets through converting potash chemicals to fertilizers more in demand than potassium chloride. To this end, we have undertaken studies on methods of preparing potassium sulphate or potassium magnesium sulphate by rather simple conversion. When mixtures of sodium and magnesium sulphates are reacted with potassium chloride, the ratio of sodium to magnesium is quite pertinent. A range of ratios has been selected and the conversions of potassium chloride to sulphate have been assessed by cyclic operations. Results from experimental procedures for producing potassium nitrate are also avail-able. The influence on recovery for systems including organic solvents is assessed for a variety of situations.

Jan 1, 1971

By K. Eklund, T. Ahokainen

The Flash Smelting process is the most used production method for primary copper in the world. The basic idea of the Flash Smelting is to utilize the thermal value of sulfidic concentrates and melt the reaction product, in controlled conditions, without a need for external energy. This basic principle is utilized both in matte smelting and in Direct-to-Blister Flash Smelting Processes. In this paper, the behavior of normal (CuFeS2) concentrate of FSF-process is compared to the behavior of high grade feed material produced by Outokumpu Concentrate Upgrade Process with the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CPD) simulation using add-in subroutines developed by Outokumpu Technology. Results consist of the information concerning the behavior of the suspension, reaction efficiency and other parameters concerning the reactions of the feed material. It will be shown that, using the Upgrade Process, the throughput of copper from the Flash Furnace can be almost tripled.

Jan 1, 2007

By T. Patching

"Introduction The occurrence of coal was first reported in the Drumheller area in 1793 but it was not until 1912 that production of coal was recorded. In that year 13,000 tonnes were mined in the Drumheller area. Three years later the Drumheller mines ranked next in the Province to those in the Crowsnest and Lethbridge districts, with an output of 225,000 tonnes. By 1917 production had increased to 600,000 tonnes, moving Drumheller to second place in output in the province, second only to the Crowsnest district. It held this rank until 1960. Production, almost all from underground mining, rose to over a million tonnes a year by 1920 and remained between one and two million tonnes per year until 1954. Competition from newly discovered oil and natural gas, beginning around 1950 caused a steady loss of domestic coal markets, especially from underground mines. By 1960 Drumheller's production had fallen below a half a million tonnes per year and the field ranked third in output in the province, being surpassed by new stripping operations in the Castor field. By 1965 only a couple of producing mines remained in the Drumheller valley, and output was only about a quarter of a million tonnes per year(1). Throughout the life of the field production was seasonal, depending mainly on the domestic heating market. In 1979 the last mine ceased production. For the last several years of its operation it had remained open in the summers to provide tours for visitors(2). The Drumheller mining operations were located along or near the Red Deer River valley which is 300 to 400 feet deep, and extended from a few miles above the city of Drumheller to East Coulee, about 13 miles down the river in a south-easterly direction. Intervening mining communities existed for some years at Wayne and Rosedale. During the peak years of production some 2000 to 2500 miners and their families lived in these communities and the surrounding areas."

Jan 1, 1985

By S. Markstrom

The Boliden AITIK copper mine is located 100 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. A pre-feasibility study was conducted in 2005 with the aim of increasing the capacity of the existing processing plant. After analysis, options to upgrade the existing plant were abandoned in favour of building a new processing plant, with higher capacity and therefore greater profitability. A new plant could be designed with greater flexibility to make potential future expansions easier. A feasibility study for a new 36 Mt/y processing plant including fully AG grinding circuits and flotation was completed in 2006. The project was approved by the Boliden board shortly thereafter. Construction started in the beginning of 2007 and was completed during 2009. Commissioning of the new plant was undertaken in the first half of 2010. The grinding circuit consists of two lines with each line consisting of a 22.5 MW AG mill and a 10 MW Pebble mill in closed circuit with a spiral classifier. The nominal production level is 2 200 t/h for each grinding line. This paper presents the start-up and operation of the grinding circuit.

Jan 1, 2012

By Jae-Chun Lee, Rajiv Ranjan Srivastava, Min-seuk Kim, Byung-Su Kim

Recycling of spent hydrotreating catalysts (HTC) can potentially contribute towards the sustainable extraction of metal values. Treating such materials by hydrometallurgical methods to separate metals from the leach liquor of either acid/alkali media is a major step. In the present study, separation of molybdenum from HCl leach liquor of spent NiMo type HTC has been investigated by applying solvent extraction using Cyanex-923. For this, the chloride solution containing 973 mg/L Mo, 254 mg/L Ni and 1634 mg/L Al was taken as the aqueous feed. The parameters including contact time, concentration of the extractant, acid and chloride, and phase ratio were varied to investigate their effect on the extraction efficiency. The McCabe-Thiele plot suggests that > 99% Mo-loading using a 2-stage extraction process. From the molybdenum depleted solution, nickel was selectively extracted by Cyanex-301 leaving Al in the raffinate.

Jan 1, 2014

By G. G. Campbell

"HistoricalBARYTES was mined in Nova Scotia as early as 1874 from a deposit at Five Islands, on the north shore of Minas Basin. The first record of the presence of the mineral at the Walton site appears in a report by Selwyn in l893, who states: ""Barytes in considerable quantity occurs in veins in lime-stones at Walton and Pembroke"". The exact site of the present workings was marked •on a map published by Fletcher in 1905.The economic •possibilities of this deposit, however, were not recognized until 1940, at which time we were at war with Germany, who up to that time had supplied 50 per cent of the world's requirements.At that time the Nova Scotia Department of Mines, recognizing the need for certain strategic minerals, induced Canadian Industrial Minerals, Limited, to send prospectors into 'the area to look for manganese. No manganese deposits were found, but a deposit of barytes was directed to their attention, and exploration and development work on the occurrence was proceeded with.IntroductionThe south shore of Minas Basin between the Avon river at Windsor and the Stewiacke river at Maitland has long been known as a potential source of mineral wealth. It had attracted the attention of mineralogists and in the past had produced considerable tonnages of manganese ore and gypsum. Depletion of ore in surface and near surface deposits resulted in a dwindling production, until today only deposits of gypsum are worked."

Jan 1, 1952

By Samuel Frimpong

Synthetic fuel is a liquid hydrocarbon fuel synthesized from unconventional resources, such as tar sands, heavy oil, coal, and oil shale. These unconventional resources are immense and will be a major energy source for the 21st Century as the availability of conventional crude oil and natural gas declines. The authors review the available global distributions, production data, research frontiers, and current research organizations involved in tar sands, heavy oil, coal, and oil shale. Tar sands and heavy oil is mainly deposited in Canada, Venezuela, and the United States. Oil shale reserves are found in United States, Jordan, China and Australia. Coal occurs in United States, Russia, China, Canada, and Australia. Major research and development efforts are focused on reserves identification, transportation technologies, production cost modeling, bitumen extraction process improvements, coal liquefaction technologies, elimination of pollutants, greenhouse gases, and safeguarding human health and the environment. This review forms a major source for educating the public about these important energy sources, and the need to develop environmentally sound technologies and policies for their extraction.

May 1, 2007

"In 2000 the CIM Council approved the CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves – Definitions and Guidelines, developed by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions. The Definition Standards established definitions and guidelines for the reporting of exploration information, mineral resources and mineral reserves in Canada. The Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve definitions are incorporated, by reference, in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, which came into force in Canada in February 2001 and was amended in December 2005.CIM DEFINITION STANDARDS- For Mineral Resources and Mineral ReservesPrepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve DefinitionsAdopted by CIM Council on December 11, 2005FOREWORDCIM Council, on August 20, 2000, approved the ""CIM Standards on Mineral Resources andReserves - Definitions and Guidelines,"" developed by the CIM Standing Committee on ReserveDefinitions. The CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves (CIM DefinitionStandards) establish definitions and guidelines for the reporting of exploration information,mineral resources and mineral reserves in Canada. The Mineral Resource and Mineral Reservedefinitions were incorporated, by reference, in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards ofDisclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), which became effective February 1, 2001.At the August 20, 2000 Council meeting a new CIM Standing Committee on ReserveDefinitions was established consisting of the following: John Postle, Bernie Haystead, LarryCochrane, Normand Champigny, Mike Hoffman, Colin McKenny, Jack Mullins, Phil Olson,Fred Payne, Jody Todd and Joe Ringwald.Subsequent to the publishing of the August 20, 2000 CIM Standards on Mineral Resourcesand Reserves, various CIM committees have compiled and published more extensivedocumentation on mining industry standard practices for estimating Mineral Resources andMineral Reserves. These standard practices provide more detailed guidance than that containedin the August 20, 2000 CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves. On November 14,2004 CIM Council adopted an update to the CIM Definition Standards to reflect the moredetailed guidance available and effect certain editorial changes required to maintain consistencywith current regulations. This version of the CIM Definition Standards includes further editorialchanges required to maintain compatibility with the new version of National Instrument 43-101which is expected to become law at the end of 2005. The CIM Definition Standards can beviewed on the CIM website at www.cim.org."

Jan 1, 2003

By D. A. Sloan

THE Young Davidson mine is of particular interest because of the extremely low costs and also because of the novel method devised for pillar recovery. The outstanding feature of the mining system is its simplicity and regularity. The successful operation of this property was de-finitely assured by the rise in price of gold in 1934. The mine is situated in the southeastern part of Powell township, about forty-five miles southeast of Timmins, Ontario. The local town, two miles distant, in Matachewan, which is twenty-five miles northwest of Elk Lake, the terminus of a branch line of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario railway. Mining is confined to one of a group of five claims. The ore occurs in a body of syen.ite porphyry which is intruded along a contact of Timiskaming conglomerates with Keewatin altered ruffs and greenstones. This intrusion extends in a north-easterly direction from Davidson creek for 3,300 feet, of which length 700 feet lies within the Matachewan Consolidated property. The maximum width of the mass is 700 feet; it tapers off as it extends east-ward. The Orebody.-The syenite porphyry is of three types, probably all differentiates of the same magma, but only one of them is gold bearing. This is a cherry-red, coarsely crystalline type which forms the central part of the mass. It is more brittle and more fractured than the others, and consequently has allowed easier access to the gold-bearing solutions. The gold has been brought in by a branching system of quartz veins and along minute fractures. It is mainly in the form of very fine 'free' gold, but also occurs in pyrite, which is the chief metallic mineral.

Jan 1, 1942

By N. I. Basuki, E. T. C. Spooner

"Abstract - More than 2800 published fluid inclusion data (primary inclusions) from eighteen typical Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) Zn-Pb deposits and districts were examined to study possible relationships between MVT fluid properties and metal tonnages and ore grades. The mean Th and salinity values for fifteen MVT deposits and districts are 122°C ± 21°C and 20.7 ± 2.6 wt% CaCl2 equivalent, respectively. In general, temperatures increase from pre-ore to ore stages, and salinities decrease from ore to post-ore stages. From post-ore to late calcite stages, salinity and temperature decrease with various trends within specific districts.Several conclusions are drawn: first, results show that Hanor’s (1996) salinity threshold for metalrich basinal fluids applies to typical MVT ore fluids (~16 wt% CaCl2 equivalent). Second, the lower limit of mean Th values of measured MVT deposits and districts (n = 15) of ~75°C is similar to Hanor’s (1996) observed temperature threshold for metal-rich basinal brines of ~60°C (n = 224). Third, there is no statistically significant relationship between fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures (Th) and metal tonnages or ore grades. Fourth, there seems to be a tendency for large tonnage districts/deposits to be associated with mean fluid salinities that are relatively low (~16 to 21 wt% CaCl2 equivalent) within the overall range of salinity means (~16 to 26 wt% CaCl2 equivalent). There is also a correlation between higher ore grades and higher salinities. Finally, comparison with other sedimentary rock-hosted Zn-Pb deposit types shows a trend of salinity decrease and temperature increase from MVT, sandstone-hosted and diapir-related Pb-Zn deposits, to vein-type and Irishtype Pb-Zn deposits, and then to sedex deposits. However, more data are needed for sedex deposits. The salinity threshold for significant Zn-Pb transport decreases to =~10 wt% CaCl2 equivalent at ~250°C. This study suggests that fluid inclusion analysis during exploration may be useful in assessing ore-forming potential (threshold salinity) and possible ore grades (salinity)."

Jan 1, 2002

By James Stenhouse

Abstract The aqueous oxidation of pyrite in caustic solutions under oxygen pressure was investigated by measuring that effect of reaction variable on oxygen consumption by the reactions. From the results of this investigation, a model for the process has been proposed. In this model, sulphur diffuses as a positive ion through an oxide layer which forms on the sulphide particles and is then oxidized to sulphate ion. Iron is oxidized by substitutional diffusion of oxygen atoms into the oxide layer. The effect of most reaction variables on the rate of oxygen consumption can be explained with this model. Introduction Recent investigations (1,2,3) have shown that certain sulphide ores can be readily leached by agitating the ore in the form of a pulp under pressure in the presence of oxygen. Since very little was known of the mechanism of this oxidation, a programme of investigation was inaugurated in 1949 in the laboratories of the Department of Mining and Metallurgy of the University of British Columbia. Financial support for the investigation was received from the National Research Council in the form of student grants and bursaries, from the Canadian Liquid Air Company, Limited, and from the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited. The first objective was to devise a technique to study the primary oxidation reactions in aqueous solutions and to apply the technique to a detailed study of the oxidation of pyrite in caustic solutions.

Jan 1, 1952

By H. C. Cooke

Geological examination of the underground workings of the Horne and Aldermac mines during the summer of 1927 has brought out the following facts: (1) That the ores tend to replace bodies of breccia or tuff rather than massive lava or dyke material; (2) That the faulting and folding at the Horne has had a pronounced effect in localizing the ore-bodies; (3) That there is a tendency in cert?-in cases for ore-bodies to be localized beneath gently dipping dykes, which acted as impervious roofs; (4) That there is a great difference in age between the chalcopyrite part of the ore-bodies and the pyrite-pyrrhotite portion. A statement of the development to date at the Aldermac mine is also included in the paper. ALDERMAC MINE The Aldermac property is made up of eight claims in the western half of Boischatel township, Quebec, including 747 acres in all. The mine itself is approximately three miles, 25 chains from the west boundary, and four miles, 55 chains from the north boundary, of the township.

Jan 1, 1928

By F. Baerhold

Recycling of hydrochloric acid from the pickling of mild steel using pyrohydrolysis is a state-of-the-art technology. Recent developments have focused on the production of a high value iron oxide by-product, where the chemical purity and physical properties are the main issues. New processing routes, especially for TiO2 and Ni production, use leaching operations with hydrochloric acid. The feasibility of those processes depends on the availability of an economic and reliable process for the recovery of the acid. Depending on the level and type of impurities and the required specification of the by-product, pyrohydrolysis in a fluid bed or in a spray roast reactor can be the ideal solution. In stainless steel annealing and pickling lines, a mixture of nitric and hydrofluoric acids is used to remove the scale from the surface after heat treatment. Nitrate emissions from the pickling and the rinsing processes have to be avoided because of more stringent environmental regulations. An annealing and pickling line that is totally wastewater-free was developed, where not only the nitric/hydrofluoric acid but also the rinse water, is completely recycled. New developments to increase the HNO3-recovery rate and to obtain a metal oxide by-product that is easier to recycle are presented.

Jan 1, 2006

By Blaycock. S. C.

WE should indeed feel proud and satisfied with the accomplishments of our great mining and metallurgical. industries during the past quarter of a century, for they have vastly exceeded those of any previous period of like duration. 1 feel that Canadians, and particularly those in the mining industry, should know more concerning the important role our industry will be called upon to play in the present war. Our Empire metals will be an outstanding factor in this conflict. Every man connected with the industry, from the lowest paid labourer to the highest official, can feel proud that his every effort results in more and more production of those metals which will help to give the Empire supremacy. He can feel assured that, by sticking to his job and by putting his whole heart into his work, he is making a contribution towards winning the terrible struggle in which our Empire and our gallant French allies are engaged. These two great peoples will have ro bear the brunt of the task of ridding the world of the menace of those who would set up force. and might in the place of right and justice in the settlement of international affairs. As the present European crisis developed, it became evident that they, alone, would have to accept the challenge and fight the enemies of Democracy to ensure the survival of the small nations of Europe and, indeed, of the great democratic powers themselves. The acquisitive eye of the German leaders had looked far ahead and they had realized that the eastern European states, already reeming with population, were no solution to Germany's space problem; but they thought that these states could be gobbled up one by one, each in turn strengthening Germany's might until it could successfully challenge France and England. No glimmer of doubt dimmed their vision. The two great democracies once subdued, they could proceed to seize Canada and the United States. This clone, they would have an abundance of room to expand, as well as those resources-grain, timber, cotton, nickel, iron, lead, zinc, copper, gold, silver, sulphur, oil-which German statesmen have always coveted. Von Ribbentrop, von Alvensleben, Bernstorff, and many others have made exhaustive studies of our resources. German rulers had been told that the French would not fight and that the British could not. They knew of the rust on the British war machine. There was no cloud in the sky; their fond dream was at last robe fulfilled.

Jan 1, 1940

By P. Kobylin, K. Haavanlammi, K. Valkama

"Base metals and precious metals can be recovered from a nickel matte or nickel concentrate using the Outotec nickel chloride leaching process. The raw material is leached with hydrochloric acid and the metals are recovered by solvent extraction, where ammonia is used to control the pH. Ammonium chloride is regenerated to ammonia and the side product of this step is calcium chloride solution. The regeneration utilizes either calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. The calcium chloride solution is used to convert sulfuric acid into a hydrochloric acid solution while producing pure gypsum as a side product. The regeneration and reuse of ammonia and hydrochloric acid in this process will have a positive impact, from the point of view of both operating costs and environmental sustainability. This paper concentrates on the test work and technical concept development performed by Outotec to implement and develop chemical regeneration and recycling into a vital part of the nickel chloride leaching process.INTRODUCTION According to a nickel market analysis, the nickel market is expected to grow in the future. Main driver for this growth is the increase in stainless steel consumption as the living standards are equalizing globally. The expected increase in the amount of electrical cars and the need for nickel in the batteries of electrical cars also gives potential for the increased need for nickel in near future. At the moment the use of nickel in nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) Li-ion batteries is in the range of 14 ktpa. It is estimated to increase to the level of 90 ktpa by 2025. In every era of the nickel industry, Outotec has been constantly developing new processes to create environmentally sustainable and economically viable processing routes. The Outotec® Nickel Matte Chloride Leaching process is a great example of a process that is flexible regarding raw material and could also treat nickel raw materials that are difficult for smelters. Outotec’s main options for pyrometallurgical nickel treatment include the Outotec® Direct Nickel Flash Smelting process (DON) and the Outotec® Ausmelt TSL process. The DON process is operated in Boliden Harjavalta Nickel Smelter in Finland. Ausmelt process is in use for example in Daye nonferrous plant in China. In the Outotec® Direct Nickel Flash Smelting Process, a sulphide nickel concentrate is processed in an Outotec Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF). Producing concentrates and processing them by Outotec Direct Nickel Flash Smelting to matte followed by hydrometallurgical refining offers a reliable route from concentrate to product. In the DON process, high-grade matte with low Fe content is produced in the FSF and the valuable metals in the slag are recovered in an electric furnace (EF). The Outotec® Ausmelt TSL process can use a large variety of raw materials (concentrates, secondary material and scrap metal) as feed. Fuel and oxygen are injected into the furnace through TSL (Top Submerged Lance) and this enables efficient smelting. Both Flash Smelting and TSL plants produce nickel mattes, which can be refined with Outotec hydrometallurgical processes."

Jan 1, 2017

By G. V. Sirianni, G. E. Viens, R. A. Campbell, G. N. Banks, R. L. Sachdeva

"A combined shaft-electric furnace for the smelting of ores and the melting of metallized iron pellets is being developed. The materials are preheated, and in some cases pre-reduced, in the shaft before being transferred to the electric furnace, where melting or smelting is completed. It has been demonstrated that this combination of equipment will enable much of the relatively expensive electrical energy to be replaced by cheaper energy in the form of oil or natural gas, and preliminary experiments indicate that the total energy requirements for a melting or smelting operation are significantly reduced. Projections based on results obtained from the preliminary experiments indicate that further improvements will be possible when certain modifications to the equipment are completed."

Jan 1, 1968

Phelps Dodge has recently operated a commercial scale, super fine grinding circuit of copper concentrates for use in a medium-temperature pressure leaching process. Two 355 kW vertical stirred mills were installed in series, targeting a grind of 80% passing 7.5 µm and 98% passing 15 µm as outlined in Phelps Dodge's concentrate leaching patent portfolio. This paper details the operation and results of the test program at Bag dad, as well as some of the operating challenges encountered.

Jan 1, 2007

By R A. Burwash

In the Yellowknife geologic province, 2,600-million-year-old granites are cut by three sets of diabase or gabbro dyke : (1) large dykes striking 70°E to E-W, (2) rare dykes striking N-S to 30°E and (3) an abundant swarm striking N 10°-300W. Preliminary potassium-argon dating has been carried out on whole-rock samples of the chilled margins and coarse centers of the dykes, and on mineral separates from the dykes and contact aureoles. Data from seventeen dated samples suggest that the dyke sets were intruded during three periods of basaltic magmatism -2,200, 1,500 and 1000 million years ago. The two earlier periods closely follow the time of emplacement of granites in the Yellowknife and Churchill geologic provinces. The latest diabase dykes occurring in the Yellowknife province are temporally related to a widespread basaltic magmatism, for which the term Keweenawan is not appropriate. D DRING the past ten years, methods of physical age determination have been widely applied to date the time of intrusion or metamorphism of Precambrian rock

Jan 1, 1963

By H. C. M. Gordon

MR. A. D. BADOUX: I have listened to Mr. Gordon's excellent paper with great interest, as I personally have gone through some of the experi­ences he has so clearly depicted. In particular, there were a good many times when we were greatly exercised in our minds as to whether we were justified or not in closing-off certain sections in the Allan mine. The difficulty in these cases arose from the fact that a peculiar smell could be detected in these sections but at the same ti me there was no positive evidence of spontaneous combustion either from heat being apparent or from the possible indications of fire getting any worse. It was suspected that the small percentage of -carbon monoxide that could be obtained by analysis in the air in these sections, and also the peculiar odour, were emanating from the coal itself, and, in order to verify this, bore-holes were drilled in the coal and the gases released from these bore-holes were analyzed. They were found to contain carbon monoxide. After quite a considerable length of time this contained carbon monoxide gradually diminished and finally could not be detected when analyzing such samples of gas. It was our intention to follow this matter up further, as such an occurrence of carbon monoxide is practically unknown, but the sections in which these occurrences were found had to be abandoned. Mr. Gordon referred t0 a case of spontaneous combustion in the Allan . mine, and I may say that, although the section in which that occurrence took place was travelled and carefully examined every day by the colliery officials, yet nothing unusual was noticed until the fire actually took place. This tire was the cause of a slight explosion.

Jan 1, 1938

By L O. Montpetit

The economics of the asbestos mining industry of Canada, and the physical and chemical characteristics of asbestos fibre, as well as exploration, mining, milling and quality control methods, have been described by several authors in the past few years. The scope of this presentation is to survey the application of asbestos fibres in the major product groups of the construction industry in North America. Principal categories considered include flooring materials, asbestos-cement pipes and building products, high-temperature insulation, textiles, saturated asbestos felts and asphalt com pounds. During 1962, the asbestos mining industry of Canada produced an estimated 1.3 million tons of chrysotile fibre grades, and production capacity is expanding. The market demand for chrysotile fibre, on this continent, has been in the order of 50 per cent of the production volume. The asbestos industry is dependent for growth on the construction industry. Product research is active in finding new uses for asbestos fibre; some of the new developments are presented, including the use of short-fibre asbestos grades for extending the life of asphalt pavement.

Jan 1, 1963